c.1912 Postcard of the Fahy's Watch Case Company Factory in Sag Harbor, Long Island c.1912 Postcard of the Fahy's Watch Case Company Factory in Sag Harbor, Long Island. In the 1870s, Joseph Fahys partnered with the Fortenbach Bros. and began mass-producing cases at their factory in Carlstadt, New Jersey. After being challenged with repeated outbreaks of malaria amongst the workforce, Fahys began looking for a location to relocate and build a bigger factory... Continue Reading

by Nathan Moore, 4 days ago

Photo by Simona Sergi on Unsplash Did you know the Elgin National Watch Company used more than 40 loaves of fresh bread each day? The Baltimore SunBaltimore, Maryland19 Jan 1908, Sun  •  Page 13 From the January 19, 1908 issue of The Baltimore Sun: "Bread to Clean Watches. A Novel Use For the Staff of Life. Perhaps the most novel use to which bread is put, says the American Food Journal, may be seen in the great factories of the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., where more than 40 loaves of fresh bread are required each day. Superintendent George E... Continue Reading

by Nathan Moore, 2 weeks ago

This post was originally published by Miquel Angel Cladera on his exceptional blog at SaFonaGastroCrono. The English translation has been provided by Google Translate with minor edits for proper clarification. Throughout the entries that we have been presenting in our Railway section, we have been showing how the North American watch industry developed, largely motivated by the increase in roads and railways that were appearing throughout the country. This increase produced a true economic flourishing in all aspects of industry, speeding up and making more efficient communications between cities, the conquest of new territories, and the transport of goods and raw materials wherever they were needed. Source: https://www.californiamuseum.org/exhibit/making-grade-california-transcontinental-railroad As is evident, this entire railway organization needed a complex section of rules, regulations and labor to guarantee its complete operation; coming to establish different time zones in the continent and a standardized time, to try to have absolute control of it. The use of watches that were as accurate as possible by train drivers, engineers, mechanics and other train operators became essential. Today I would like to show you what is known as the first North American watch designed to be operated in the railway segment and as the title indicates, it is a watch manufactured by the American Watch Co., later known as the Waltham Watch Co... Continue Reading

by Miguel Ángel Cladera, 3 weeks ago